Phantoms In The Hall
by IShockJockey
Summary: Nora Griswald is a technician for Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, she mostly keeps to herself, and does her job. While she doesn't enjoy her job, she's kept there by a few friends, and a quiet, secluded place to work. This will start near Five Nights 2 and then move on to the present.
1. Chapter 1

' _Help...me…'_

Nora jolted upright in her bed, gasping for breath as she wiped the cold sweat she had broken into during the night. She steadied her breathing, and sighed to herself, before throwing her comforter off, crawling out of bed.

She threw on her technician's jacket, FREDDY FAZBEAR'S PIZZA embroidered on the back and on the sleeve. It was actually an old security guard's uniform, originally handed down to her as a substitute for the jumpsuit she now owned. Though given how long she had been with the company, she considered it a gift for her service. She shrugged her shoulders, working out the kink built up during her sleep, as she stepped outside. Her breath became visible, and her chest tightened from the frigid air as she drew out a cigarette from the pocket of the jacket. She exhaled quickly, her lungs growing accustomed to the chilly night air as she then proceeded to draw out her lighter. She slipped the cigarette between her lips, and cupped her hand around the lighter. The lighter took a few clicks, before it sprung to life, flickering even with the protection of her hand in the cold wind.

* * *

Nora stood outside the doors of the pizzeria, stomping out the used butt of her cigarette and pushing open the glass door of the restaurant.

"Another day in paradise..." she murmured to herself, shrugging off the chill of the Utah winter as she strolled inside, enjoying the warmth provided by the air conditioning of the pizzeria. She wound her way around the main party room, past the stage, and then down the hall, towards the Parts and Service room. She passed the game area and playground of sorts for the restaurant, idly placing her hand on the Balloon Boy animatronic and gently patting him on the head as she passed him by. It was an odd ritual she performed each day she walked into work- she didn't believe it brought her any form of luck, but still it gave her a sense of comfort. She pushed open the heavy iron door to Parts and Service, flicking on the light and being greeted by Foxy and Freddy sitting off to her immediate right. She nodded idly to them, turning around and heading towards the rear of the room, where her tools and workbench were kept.

"I see you boys didn't move over the weekend." she observed, coughing into her hand as she passed Chica, then stopping to kneel down to it's level. Satisfied with her brief inspection, she stood again, and went to her toolbox. She opened it, lifting the metal latch and grabbing a few wrenches and a power drill. The door creaked as she inserted the battery pack into the drill, she cocked a brow as she turned her head, looking to the open door.

"Jamie? Martin?" she called.

Receiving no response, she went back to her work, grabbing her safety visor and putting on the work apron. She walked over to Chica's hunched over form and began to take more of the jaw apart. When she had first taken the job, she had wondered heavily what the original owners of these animatronics were thinking with some of these design choices. After working for Fazbear's for all these years, she learned either not to ask questions, or to just flat-out ignore what was going on. It worked well enough for her so far. Nora began to rev up her drill-

"Hello?"

Nora sighed as the drill spun down, and she once again turned around, looking towards the door and saw the Balloon Boy animatronic standing in the doorway.

Nora wasn't very amused. "Hello?" she responded.

The thing laughed.

"Right…" she said, starting up her drill again, beginning work on Chica's jaw once more.

"Want a balloon? I've got a shiny blue one!"

"Uh, no, thank you?" she replied, wondering if there was something wrong with the animatronic.

"Okay!" it cheered, then fell silent, still standing in the doorway.

"Go find your other friends." Nora said, taking apart Chica's jaw once again, and unconcerned with the Balloon Boy.

 _ **Author's Note: Dear god it's been a long time since I've written anything.**_


	2. Chapter 2

"How did it go with fitting Old Bird with the newer tech?" Jamie asked, entering the Parts and Service room as Nora wiped some grease from her cheek.

"Not much progress," she grumbled, standing up as her spine popped "I can't do much with the arms, the endoskeleton is too outdated for some of these newer joints to be compatible."

Jamie shrugged. "These things are like from the 70's, you can't really do much without gutting all of them and replacing everything." he replied.

Nora nodded in agreement, handing over the wrench she had been using to her supervisor. "I'm passing the torch, I need a smoke break." she said simply, walking past him as he began to try to work out more of Chica's parts himself.

Nora walked past the hall of party rooms, taking notice that Balloon Boy was nowhere to be seen. It was well past noon, there was no doubt a party or two going on, by the sound of it. She shrugged on her jacket, and prepared to duck out of the way of an approaching Bonnie.

"I haven't seen anything suspicious today." it said in its cheerfully ignorant voice.

Nora stopped and simply stared, a little dumbfounded. "Run data scan zero-two-point-oh" she replied.

The blue bunny's jaw fell open a bit and began to rattle off a report.

"Mobility and joints - active...motion sense and safety - active...facial recognition - faulty."

"Ah shit, again?" Nora sighed, looking the thing up and down.

It did the same.

"Come on, let's get you fixed up." she said at last, beckoning it to follow her back to Parts and Service.

"Sure thing, Miss Nora!"

It followed, as Nora shuddered a bit. She might have been a technician for Freddy's for a few years, but the way these things acted almost human gave her chills.

"Jay, make a note in the logbook, I think the facial scanners might be on the fritz again." she said, leading Bonnie into the room and off to the corner to be worked on.

"New tech always does that. Who knows? It could save a life someday."

"A bit on the nose, isn't it?" she replied, as she powered down Bonnie.

"It's what the Corporate Overlords want, so that's what they get." Jamie chuckled.

Nora shrugged, once again heading out the door. "This time I'm _really_ going on a smoke break."

Nora exited the room, and began to stroll towards the exit when a familiar voice caught her attention.

"Miss Nora?"

 _Balloon Boy._

Nora spun on her heels, spying him off to the left, near his usual spot.

"Yes..?" she asked hesitantly.

"Will my friend Bonnie be alright?" it asked.

Nora shivered again.

"He just needs to...lie down for a while, he'll be okay." she said (reassured?) it.

The humanoid animatronic nodded, then ran off to join the party in the other room.

She hurried her way out the door before anymore animatronics could stop and talk to her.


	3. Chapter 3

Nora rolled her shoulders as she backed away from Foxy's chest cavity; screws, bolts, and spare parts surrounding her and the decrepit animatronic. She cursed to herself as she dropped her screwdriver inside of the cavity, the tool clacking and went 'tink-tink-tink' deep into the innards of the animatronic. She looked down into the cavity, then at the fox's muzzle, rolling her tongue over her teeth as she considered just tearing the thing apart, if only to retrieve her tool. She pushed away the thought as she also considered that Management would have a conniption if she took the ancient thing apart, bit by bit. A shiver ran down her spine as she heard the heavy door of the Parts and Service room creak open. She hesitantly turned her head and spied the Puppet staring at her, deathly still and silent.

She _hated_ this thing.

She didn't bother with a response, it never talked, not that it was programmed to. She knew that its voice was that of a young boy, but all of that was rigged with audio equipment in the prize corner, suspended from the ceiling.

She paid it no mind, and went about her work, reaching down into Foxy's chest to grab her screwdriver. She heard the rustling of cloth, and she saw the Puppet out of the corner of her eye, floating into the far corner of the room, where the old Freddy model sat. She tried to pay it no mind, as she felt her fingertips brush against the tip of the screwdriver. She grabbed at it, clutching it with success as her shoulder tensed, carefully lifting it from the animatronic. She almost had her elbow removed from inside of the thing, before the Puppet appeared before her, drawing in on her.

"Fuck!" she cried as she fell backward, padded slightly by the thick hide of her security guard's jacket. She banged the back of her head on the floor as the Puppet floated above her, staring down at her with its void eye-sockets.

"The hell do you want?" she spat, rubbing the back of her head and checking for injury.

It didn't answer her, of course.

She rolled over, to stand up, as the thing popped up in her face again.

"SHIT!" she shrieked, clutching her chest.

It kept staring at her, as an ice cold bit of metal rolled down the side of her neck. She glanced lowly to the side- Foxy was giving her a lopsided stare, his jaw hanging open while his hook drew down her neck.

A shiver ran down her spine once again. Foxy's hook jerked, as it pierced her jacket and held her; she hunched over a bit as she drew into herself.

 _'The fuck is going on?'_ she thought, as the old Chica model sat itself up, and then haphazardly stood, like a toddler taking its first steps.

It hobbled over towards the Puppet, blocking the door as its deformed jaw hung open, much like Foxy's; although her endoskeleton jaw was opening and closing constantly.

Nora looked to the Puppet, glancing around the room as Freddy and Bonnie shambled over towards them, completing the circle.

 _"These are my friends."_

Nora's jaw dropped as she stared at the Puppet. It wasn't its usual voice, it was much higher and sounded more female.

"Your…friends." Nora said slowly, very unsure of what this was going to lead to. Her mind raced as she looked around the room, every single animatronic she had worked on staring at her blankly.

"They're like animals now, but I am aware." it said, drawing closer to her. "They're falling into disrepair, with outdated technology."

Nora stared at the thing, gulping hard as she looked around her at the circle of animatronics.

The creature picked one of the wrenches hanging on the wall of the room, and drifted over her. Nora flinched as the Puppet dropped the wrench at her feet; it clattered to her feet as the rest of the group remained unaffected by the noise.

"I need you to fix them." It demanded.

Nora looked down at the wrench, then up at the Puppet.

"You're serious…"

It grappled her by the collar and hefted her up, releasing her from Foxy's hook. The void eye holes flashing white.

" **Yes.** "

The Puppet threw her away from itself, and ran her out of the room, screaming in her face. That was enough for Nora; she bolted from Parts and Service, and sped past Kid's Cove, where Toy Freddy and Funtime Foxy were currently entertaining a birthday party.

It wasn't until she was out in the parking lot and well on her way home, that she had realized she had left her pack of cigarettes in Parts and Service.


End file.
